FieldAware Expands Mobile Apps Into Salesforce.com Ecosystem

FieldAware, a developer of mobile field service management applications, is plugging into the Salesforce.com ecosystem.

FieldAware has developed links between its applications and Salesforce.com's ubiquitous CRM applications and is now marketing its software through the Salesforce AppExchange. CEO Charles Jackson said the moves would accelerate his company's expansion.

"Our business is growing very, very rapidly," Jackson said in an interview with CRN. "We're in a high-growth phase right now."

FieldAware's applications are used by field service workers for such tasks as job scheduling and dispatch and work order management. The company targets industries that have a high ratio of mobile field workers, such as companies that maintain heavy construction and agricultural machinery or medical equipment, service companies in plumbing and electricity, and HVAC installation and maintenance companies.

About 60 percent of such tasks are still managed using paper orders, according to Jackson. But as smartphones and tablet computers proliferate, more companies are replacing those paper forms with mobile applications developed for iOS, Android and Windows.

FieldAware, whose applications support those three mobile operating systems, has been working with cloud application vendor NetSuite since last year. (NetSuite named FieldAware its SDN partner of the year in May.) FieldAware's mobile applications can exchange data with NetSuite's backend ERP and CRM systems, such as for billing purposes or inventory management, through its open API.

FieldAware has developed similar integration with Saleforce's CRM application set, with AppExchange an added dimension to the partnership. The company initially demonstrated the functionality at the Dreamsforce conference last month.

Jackson declined to speculate how much business the Salesforce relationship will generate. He said he expects "modest" results the first year while FieldAware establishes its presence in the Salesforce ecosystem.

FieldAware has also linked its mobile application to Sage's accounting software.

While FieldAware is an ISV partner to NetSuite, Sage and Salesforce and works with some of those vendor's channel partners, the Plano, Texas-based company recently launched its own channel program to recruit reseller, sales referral and implementation partners.

One such partner is 3Plenish, a division of 3Wire Group that develops mobile parts inventory management applications used to manage products and parts inventory on service trucks. The applications, which run on Amazon Web Services, are linked with FieldAware's software, and the Osseo, Minn.-based company acts as a referral partner for FieldAware.

"Any opportunity that comes along from FieldAware for inventory replenishment is absolutely an opportunity for us," said 3Plenish general manager David Womeldorf in an interview.

Jackson expects to accelerate FieldAware's channel initiatives. "Over the next two years, you're going to see a lot of activity from us in this area," he said.